If you live outside Spain and earn income here, own a property here, or have sold one, Model 210 can show up faster than you expected. And, honestly, it is not exactly the friendliest form in the Spanish tax universe. Still, once we break it into parts, it becomes much more manageable. That is what we are going to do here: explain what the form is for, when you usually need it, how to complete it step by step, and what the numbers can look like in real life. AEAT uses Model 210 as the standard self-assessment form for non-residents without a permanent establishment in Spain, and it can be used for income, imputed property income, and capital gains.
At Austen & Partners, we know that tax forms tend to feel much worse before you understand the logic behind them. Once you do, things calm down a bit. Not magically, maybe, but enough to breathe again.
What this form is actually for
Model 210 is the form non-residents use to declare certain Spanish-source income when they do not operate through a permanent establishment in Spain. The same model can be used for rental income, imputed income on an urban property that you keep for your own use, and gains from selling a Spanish property. It can be filed for a single accrual, or in some cases as a grouped return for several amounts that meet the same conditions.
That does not mean you always have to file it. AEAT states that, in general, there is no filing obligation for income on which the correct withholding or payment on account has already been made, or for income that is exempt under Spanish law or an applicable tax treaty, although there are important exceptions, including certain refunds and some capital gains situations. So yes, this is one of those areas where the word “depends” appears a lot. A lot.
Who usually needs to file Model 210
A very common case is the non-resident individual who owns an urban property in Spain for personal use, or simply leaves it empty. In that situation, Spanish tax rules can create an imputed income charge. For Model 210 purposes, that is filed as type of income 02, and the taxable base is calculated by applying 1.1% or 2% to the cadastral value, depending on the circumstances.
Another classic case is rental income. If you rent out a Spanish property, Model 210 is the form usually used to declare that rent. For normal rental income, the form uses type 01. If the rental income is not subject to withholding and comes from several payers, AEAT says you should use type 35 instead. Also, since 16 December 2023, AEAT indicates that returns for rented or sublet real estate under types 01 or 35 can only be filed by the taxpayer. That detail catches people out more often than you might think.
A third big scenario is the sale of a Spanish property by a non-resident. In that case, Model 210 is used to declare the capital gain, usually with type 28, unless an exemption for reinvestment in a habitual residence leads to codes 33 or 34. On top of that, the buyer generally has to withhold 3% of the agreed price and pay it to the Treasury as a payment on account for the seller, and the non-resident seller later reflects that in the Model 210 calculation. The filing deadline for property-sale gains is also different from the usual quarterly rhythm: it is filed within three months after the first month following the sale date.
What you should have in front of you before you start
Before you begin, we would strongly suggest gathering your identification details, property details, income figures, dates, and bank details first. That sounds obvious, but it saves a surprising amount of back-and-forth. If you are the taxpayer and you do not have a Spanish NIF yet, AEAT allows you to obtain an identification code directly from the predeclaration process so that it can be loaded into the form. That little option is genuinely useful and easy to miss if you rush.
How to fill in Model 210 step by step
Step 1. Identify the income and the correct period
The first decision is not technical, really. It is conceptual: what exactly are you declaring? A self-use property? Rent? A sale? AEAT allows grouped filings in some cases, but not in all. In general, grouped returns are possible when the income is of the same type, from the same payer, under the same tax rate, and, if tied to an asset, from the same asset. For rental income from real estate that is not subject to withholding, grouping can still be possible even with different payers, which is where type 35 comes in. Since income accrued from 2024 onward, rental income from leased or subleased real estate can also be grouped annually, while many other payable returns still follow the quarterly filing logic.
Step 2. Choose the right income type code
This matters more than people expect. For imputed urban property income, the code is 02. For rental income, you will normally be looking at 01, or 35 if you are in the several-payers/no-withholding situation. For gains on the sale of real estate, the general code is 28, while 33 and 34 apply in certain reinvestment cases. Get this wrong and the whole return starts on the wrong foot. A very Spanish bureaucratic sentence, but still true.
Step 3. Complete the taxpayer and property information
Then you move into the identification blocks: taxpayer details, country of tax residence, address, and, when relevant, the property data. For income types connected to real estate, AEAT requires the property information block, so you should complete it carefully and make sure the property can be clearly identified. If you are using the paper predeclaration route and you do not have a Spanish NIF, this is where the identification-code option becomes especially important.
Step 4. Calculate the taxable base
This is the heart of the form. For imputed income, the taxable base is calculated by applying 1.1% or 2% to the cadastral value. Broadly speaking, 1.1% applies in the reviewed-value situations described by AEAT, while 2% applies to the rest. No expenses are deductible from that imputed base.
For rental income, the general rule is that the taxable base starts from the gross amount received from the tenant. However, AEAT allows certain expense deductions for taxpayers resident in another EU or EEA state with applicable information-exchange rules, provided those expenses are directly linked to the Spanish income and properly evidenced. For everyone else, the general rule is harsher: gross income, no deduction. Not lovely, but clear.
For capital gains on a sale, the basic rule is that the gain equals the difference between the transfer value and the acquisition value, subject to the more detailed adjustments and special transitional rules AEAT explains for older assets. In plain English: sale price minus purchase-side tax basis, then any applicable refinements.
Step 5. Apply the correct tax rate
For many non-resident income items under the general IRNR regime, AEAT shows a 19% rate for residents in the EU, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and 24% for other taxpayers. For gains arising from the transfer of assets, AEAT states a 19% rate. That is why residence status changes the answer so much in rental cases, while a straightforward property-sale gain often leads you back to 19%.
Step 6. Submit and pay it the right way
AEAT allows filing online or through paper predeclaration, depending on the case. Online filing can require a certificate, DNI electrónico or Cl@ve in the situations AEAT describes, and payment can be made through a bank-generated NRC, through AEAT’s own payment gateway using account charge, card, or Bizum, or by direct debit where allowed. For some taxpayers abroad, payment can also be made by bank transfer from outside Spain, but AEAT is very strict here: the transfer must be in euros and the transfer concept must include only the payment identifier generated by the system. Only that. Nothing else. Not even a helpful note.
Three simple examples
Example 1. A holiday apartment used by the owner
Let’s say you are tax resident in Germany and you own an urban apartment in Spain for your own use. The cadastral value is €120,000, and the value was reviewed in a way that lets you apply 1.1%. Your imputed taxable base would be €1,320. If the applicable rate is 19%, the tax due would be €250.80. If the property fell under the 2% rule instead, the taxable base would be €2,400 and the tax would be €456. Same property, very diferent outcome.
Example 2. Annual rental filing
AEAT’s own example uses a taxpayer resident in Germany who receives €1,000 per month in rent from a flat in Madrid during 2024. Grouping the income annually, the return shows €12,000 gross income, €12,000 taxable base, and a 19% tax that results in €2,280 payable. This is a very useful benchmark because it mirrors the kind of case many non-resident landlords actually have: one property, one payer, one year, one return.
Example 3. Sale of a Spanish property
Now imagine you sell a Spanish property for €300,000 and your acquisition value for tax purposes is €250,000. Your gain would be €50,000. At 19%, the tax would be €9,500. But the buyer is generally required to withhold 3% of the price, which here would be €9,000, using Model 211. In a simple version of the maths, that could leave €500 still to pay through Model 210. In other cases, the withholding can exceed the final tax and lead to a refund.
The mistakes we see most often
The biggest errors tend to be quite repetitive: choosing the wrong income code, filing the wrong period, forgetting that rental income accrued from 2024 may be grouped annually, missing the fact that several-payer rentals can require type 35, assuming expenses are always deductible when they are not, or entering the wrong concept when paying by transfer from abroad. Another frequent mistake is assuming that the 3% withholding on a property sale means there is nothing else to do. Sometimes that is close to true in financial effect, but procedurally it is not the same thing.
Final thoughts
So, what is the cleanest way to think about Model 210? We would put it like this: first identify what kind of income you have, then identify when it accrued, then calculate the base, apply the right rate, subtract any allowable withholding or deduction, and only then think about filing and payment. In other words, do not start with the form itself. Start with the story behind the form.
That small shift helps a lot. And with Model 210, honestly, a lot is already quite good.